MIAMI (AP) Dwyane Wade played with knee pain throughout the playoffs. He'll soon know exactly what was causing that problem, and if it could keep him out of the London Olympics.

One day after celebrating his second NBA championship, the Miami Heat guard told The Associated Press on Friday that he will soon have his ailing left knee examined, and acknowledges that surgery may be a possibility. Wade appeared in all 23 postseason games for Miami, averaging 22.8 points, and scored 20 in the title-clinching win for the Heat against Oklahoma City on Thursday night.

''I've got to make a decision on what my knee needs and what's best, because my career and finishing my career strong is what's important to me,'' Wade said. ''And I know, yeah, the Olympics are coming up. It's something I really want to do. But at the same time, if I have to make a big decision, if something has to happen surgery-wise, that will have to be a step I have to take. My loyalty and my commitment to Miami Heat basketball is the No. 1 thing.''

An MRI exam will likely take place in the next few days. Wade had the knee drained during Miami's second-round series against Indiana.

''From my small conversations with the doctor at that time, I think some kind of cleanup process might have to go on,'' Wade said. ''And when that happens, from our previous experiences, it takes a while to recover. So I want to make sure that I want to recover strong and not like I did the last knee surgery that I had.''

Wade had surgery on his left knee in May 2007. He led the Americans in scoring at the Beijing Olympics, averaging 16 points despite coming off the bench in all eight games.

USA Basketball plans to have the national team convene in Las Vegas and for training camp to start there on July 6. From there, the American team will go to Washington to begin training on July 13, with more sessions beginning July 17 in Manchester, England, and July 20 in Barcelona. The Olympics begin July 27 and the first game for the Americans in London is against France two days later.

The time demands could be daunting, especially with this NBA season ending a bit later than usual because schedule changes necessitated by the lockout.

''This is the hand that's dealt to us,'' Wade said. ''And I'm going to take this hand, I'm not going to complain and I'm going to move forward.''

Wade said Heat doctors and trainers worked with him to find ways of ensuring that playing in the postseason would not make whatever the knee problem is any worse. He also spent time with his longtime trainer, Tim Grover.

''You know what, I was playing in a lot of pain,'' Wade said. ''Obviously, my knee has been an issue. I sat down with the doctors a little bit during the Indiana series and talked about the possibility of what's to come. But I didn't want to think about it then. I said, 'Listen, let's just do what we have to do to make sure that I can give my all.' And they did that. I thank them for that.''

He said he was sitting on his couch watching television on Friday when his thoughts turned to his hopes of being able to play in London. At that moment, he said an Olympic commercial appeared on his screen.

''Got a little emotional,'' Wade said. ''I loved what we had and what we shared as a unit. The possibility of not being able to do that, man, it's a little different.''

Dwyane Wade is 30 now — in NBA terms, an old 30. After knee surgery and other ailments, the Heat hopes more rest will extend his career.

By Joseph Goodmanjgoodman@MiamiHerald.com

The knee has taken longer to heal than Dwyane Wade, the Miami Heat or anyone else would have expected.

Four to six weeks was the projected recovery time. Training camp began Saturday, marking 11 1/2 weeks of Wade’s rehabilitation from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He will miss preseason games, perhaps all of them. He said Friday that his goal was to be ready for action Oct. 30, the day of the Heat’s season opener in Madison Square Garden.

For Wade, it’s a disappointing beginning to the Heat’s bid to repeat as NBA champion. This is the second preseason in the past two years Wade has spent time laboring over pain in his legs rather than playing, and last season, plantar fasciitis in his left foot nagged him often. He has had surgery on his left knee twice in the last four years and it swelled with fluid at the end of last season, forcing him to have it drained during the second round of the playoffs.

“I understand that it’s a process and I’m going to take that process and be … I’ve been here before, guys, so I know what to do. I’ll be all right,” Wade said to reporters Friday. “I went all the way around the block just to go next door.”

In other words, he put off surgery on his knee for far too long.

The Heat will not admit it publicly, but there are concerns among those in the organization about the second half of Wade’s Hall of Fame career. Reckless abandon on the court made him famous and made him rich and made him loved in his adopted city of Miami, but now it’s making him and the Heat refocus their expectations. Wade is only 30 years old, but it’s an old 30.

Wade expects himself — as does the Heat — to play well into his 30s and at a very high level. It might seem early in his career for such things, but the team has started an aggressive plan to preserve Wade’s body for the long term. Reduced minutes, scheduled off days and a repurposed skill set are all being considered.

It begins in earnest with this training camp.

Wade is noticeably heavier this preseason than the last, so dropping weight, strengthening his legs and core and allowing his knee to heal fully from surgery are the first priorities. Next will come a more intense level of conditioning and monitored minutes of scrimmage time.

“I’m just strictly looking at him big picture,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I don’t have a specific plan for him in training camp of how many days. We’re going to read and react to it.”

More days off likely

Although Spoelstra would like to have him back to full speed by Oct. 30, there is, in reality, no specific time crunch or deadline. Off days will be sprinkled into Wade’s rehab just as off days will dot his regular-season box scores. The ultimate goal is for Wade to be completely healthy and pain free after the All-Star break.

“When you feel good and you want to push it to the next level, sometimes that’s when it’s important to take the day off,” Spoelstra said.

Last season, Wade played 49 of the regular season’s 66 games. Convert that percentage to this season and that’s 22 games before the playoffs. By no means does Wade expect to miss that many regular-season games, but if he did, and you multiply those rest days over the next four years, that’s an entire season added on to Wade’s career.

Dwyane Wade is 30 now — in NBA terms, an old 30. After knee surgery and other ailments, the Heat hopes more rest will extend his career.

By Joseph Goodman
jgoodman@MiamiHerald.com

The knee has taken longer to heal than Dwyane Wade, the Miami Heat or anyone else would have expected.

Four to six weeks was the projected recovery time. Training camp began Saturday, marking 11 1/2 weeks of Wade’s rehabilitation from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He will miss preseason games, perhaps all of them. He said Friday that his goal was to be ready for action Oct. 30, the day of the Heat’s season opener in Madison Square Garden.

For Wade, it’s a disappointing beginning to the Heat’s bid to repeat as NBA champion. This is the second preseason in the past two years Wade has spent time laboring over pain in his legs rather than playing, and last season, plantar fasciitis in his left foot nagged him often. He has had surgery on his left knee twice in the last four years and it swelled with fluid at the end of last season, forcing him to have it drained during the second round of the playoffs.

“I understand that it’s a process and I’m going to take that process and be … I’ve been here before, guys, so I know what to do. I’ll be all right,” Wade said to reporters Friday. “I went all the way around the block just to go next door.”

In other words, he put off surgery on his knee for far too long.

The Heat will not admit it publicly, but there are concerns among those in the organization about the second half of Wade’s Hall of Fame career. Reckless abandon on the court made him famous and made him rich and made him loved in his adopted city of Miami, but now it’s making him and the Heat refocus their expectations. Wade is only 30 years old, but it’s an old 30.

Wade expects himself — as does the Heat — to play well into his 30s and at a very high level. It might seem early in his career for such things, but the team has started an aggressive plan to preserve Wade’s body for the long term. Reduced minutes, scheduled off days and a repurposed skill set are all being considered.

It begins in earnest with this training camp.

Wade is noticeably heavier this preseason than the last, so dropping weight, strengthening his legs and core and allowing his knee to heal fully from surgery are the first priorities. Next will come a more intense level of conditioning and monitored minutes of scrimmage time.

“I’m just strictly looking at him big picture,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I don’t have a specific plan for him in training camp of how many days. We’re going to read and react to it.”

More days off likely

Although Spoelstra would like to have him back to full speed by Oct. 30, there is, in reality, no specific time crunch or deadline. Off days will be sprinkled into Wade’s rehab just as off days will dot his regular-season box scores. The ultimate goal is for Wade to be completely healthy and pain free after the All-Star break.

“When you feel good and you want to push it to the next level, sometimes that’s when it’s important to take the day off,” Spoelstra said.

Last season, Wade played 49 of the regular season’s 66 games. Convert that percentage to this season and that’s 22 games before the playoffs. By no means does Wade expect to miss that many regular-season games, but if he did, and you multiply those rest days over the next four years, that’s an entire season added on to Wade’s career.

There is a recent precedent for such a concerted effort to extend the career of a superstar, and it has worked better than expected for San Antonio. Tim Duncan has had knee problems throughout his career. After a knee procedure more than a decade ago, Duncan began scaling back his minutes and in the past two seasons, he has taken rest days throughout the regular season and played even fewer minutes.

Dwyane Wade is far ahead of schedule in recovering from offseason knee surgery.

"We didn't anticipate him really competing in this many practices," Erik Spoelstra said. "He's getting stronger. He's getting quicker. You see a lot of that quick twitch that we've known Dwayne for so well for all these years. You're seeing that come back."

Dwyane Wade had one of his best performances of the season on Saturday with 34 points and seven assists.

“Obviously I wanted to play better. I was struggling a little bit,” said Wade. “For me, my goal is by All-Star to feel better coming off of knee surgery but I worked hard the last couple days. I didn’t take no time off and I really tried to get my legs under me.”

“It was not a thought in our mind to panic,” Erik Spoelstra said of Wade’s game. “It’s a long season. He started the year with minor injuries and it takes awhile to get into the flow. He’s put in a lot of work behind the scenes.”

ORLANDO -- Dwyane Wade sat out for the second game in a row as he continued to rest a sore right knee.

Wade said he underwent an MRI that returned negative and said the pain in his knee was diminishing.

“It’s just a bruise,” Wade said. “It’s just about understanding when you have something lingering it can affect other parts of your body. You have to be smart about it.

“You have to understand what’s coming down for our team in the next few days. [Sunday] was a good day, and hopefully it will feel better by Wednesday so I can get back on the court.”

Wade said he first took a hit on the knee in the team’s previous home game against Orlando on March 6, then hit it again against the Celtics on March 18.

“It’s something I’ve been dealing with for two weeks,” Wade said. “Some days are good and some are bad. We don’t need to deal with this down the stretch, so I felt like this was the right time.”

Wade, who had offseason surgery on his left knee, missed his sixth game this season overall and said he is hoping the rest will allow him to return for the Heat’s next game against the Bulls — the second of the team’s four-game trip that began Monday against the Magic.

“We want to be proactive and take care of it right now,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s been getting treatment and been feeling better each day.”

Wade said he almost sat out against the Pistons on Friday but pressed on.

“Right now, it’s fun playing with these guys,” Wade said. “But we felt these back-to-back games would be the right time to rest it. The pain is kind of going away, and the doctors said it would. I’m not a doctor, but I knew there was nothing seriously wrong with it.”

Mike Miller started for the second game in a row after playing only 28 total minutes during the previous 25 games. Miller played 21 minutes Sunday against the Bobcats and scored six points.

More accolades

LeBron James was named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week on Monday, marking the sixth time he has earned the honor this season. James averaged 30.8 points, 10 assists, 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 steals and two blocks last week in four wins against the Celtics, Cavaliers, Pistons and Bobcats. James recorded his fourth triple-double of the season (25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) against the Cavaliers.

James has earned the honor 43 times in his career — the most by a player in NBA history. James also has been named the NBA’s Player of the Month four times this season.

MIAMI -- Dwyane Wade won't rule out missing the rest of the regular season to recover from a right knee injury, but the Miami Heat star said Sunday he hopes to return before the playoffs.

Wade has missed six of the Heat's past eight games and is still dealing with soreness and swelling in the knee, which he has aggravated twice since initially injuring it a month ago.

"The most important thing is to be healthy," Wade said Sunday, addressing the media for the first time since he last played March 29. "So when I feel it, then I'll get back on the court. Obviously, I want to play. But I have to make sure that I'm right. You have to get healthy."

Wade is one of several key players for the defending NBA champions who have missed games recently as the team tries to balance rest and recovery before the April 20 start of the playoffs. LeBron James sat out three games before he returned Saturday from a hamstring injury to score 27 points in a blowout win against Philadelphia.

"[My hamstring] was a little sore this morning, which I knew it would be," James said Sunday. "But I feel better today than I did a week ago. So I'm making progress."

Chris Bosh, who missed Saturday's game, is recovering from a hyperextended right knee and said Sunday he wasn't sure when he might try to return.

Wade, James and Bosh were among Miami's players, coaches and front-office staff members who attended Sunday's annual Heat Family Festival. The carnival-style event held outside of AmericanAirlines Arena raised more than $503,000 for local charities affiliated with the Heat.

While the injuries James and Bosh have been dealing with have been considered minor, there seems to be more concern around the team regarding Wade's situation.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Saturday that all three of his marquee players will be considered day to day for the rest of the regular season. But Spoelstra confirmed that Wade has been held back by consistent swelling in his knee.

Wade initially banged knees with a defender during a March 6 game against Orlando and aggravated the injury when he collided with another player two weeks later against Boston. Wade played through the discomfort a few more games before he sat out a back-to-back set against Charlotte and Orlando on March 24-25.

Wade returned for the March 27 loss in Chicago, which ended the Heat's 27-game winning streak, and also played two nights later in New Orleans. But he had a setback in each of those games, first spraining his right ankle when he stepped on Bulls forward Taj Gibson's foot and then took more hits and falls during the game against the Hornets.

"His body will tell us when we'll play him," Spoelstra said of Wade on Saturday. "He got hit right on top of his knee twice. He was able to resolve it, then get past it. But in the New Orleans game, he got beat up and was on the floor."

Erik Spoelstra isn't a doctor, but the Miami Heat coach got to play one Friday.

Asked about the best course of treatment for Dwyane Wade's balky right knee, Spoelstra said, "no collisions."

But in the next breath Spoelstra said that doesn't mean there is necessarily a need to hold Wade out of Sunday's Game 4 against the Milwaukee Bucks at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, when the Heat try to sweep the best-of-seven opening-round NBA playoff series.

"He's been dealing with this for over a month," Spoelstra said of what the team is reporting as a bone bruise. "It's getting better. But he plays a physical game. He was on the ground four or five times [Thursday] night. One was a collision where he got fouled in the first half, he got hit in the elbow, he got hit in the face, he got hit in the knee, all in one play.

"But he's fighting through it. Some days are a little bit better than others, depending on the collisions he has from the night before."

MILWAUKEE – After working out pregame, Dwyane Wade missed the Miami Heat’s Game 4 against the Bucks on Sunday afternoon, deciding to rest his knee.

Wade warmed up without his knee pads, and Heat assistant coaches walked off the court confident that the All-Star guard could play if needed. Wade has dealt with a sore right knee this season and tweaked his forearm in Thursday’s Game 3 win.

The Heat have a 3-0 lead over the Bucks in this first round matchup and should still close out the matchup. Mike Miller will start at shooting guard in Wade's place.

Wade missed 11 of 12 shots in Game 3, but he made critical plays to allow the Heat to pull away in the second half, finishing with 11 assists and nine rebounds. He has averaged 13.7 points, seven rebounds and 6.3 assists over three playoff games.

CHICAGO — Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade has an usual method for trying to relieve the pain in his bruised left knee.

Wade said he is using tape to move his kneecap over into a position that is more comfortable.

Though it's known Wade is battling the bruised knee, for the first time in a game it was revealed how much pain he is experiencing. It happened just before he took a shot with 7:21 left in the second quarter of Miami's 88-65 victory against the Chicago Bulls in Game 4 on Monday.

Wade tweaked his knee, favored it, grimaced in pain and stopped moving while the action moved to the other end of the floor after his missed shot.

He checked out at 7:12 and returned with 3:36 left in the half.

"Just a shooting pain. It hurt," Wade said. "Eventually I was able to re-tape my knee, come back out and try to finish."

Wade did not score in the first half and finished with six points — all in the third quarter — on 3-of-10 shooting. It's just the fourth time in 117 playoff games that he has scored less than 10 points.

The Heat have had strong performances from LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Norris Cole and still have a 3-1 series lead despite Wade's injury.

"Any time you have a guy who is not 100%, you have to give a little more effort," Bosh said. "Dwyane has been having a tough time getting into the flow of some of the games."